Romney Statement on Iran at Odds with Foreign Policy Advisers’ (but not Obama’s)

“My red line is Iran may not have a nuclear weapon,” Mr. Romney said, in aninterview that was broadcast on Friday with George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America.” “It is inappropriate for them to have the capacity to terrorize the world.”

Though Mr. Romney has repeatedly said that he would have put in place “crippling sanctions” with Iran far before Mr. Obama did, the president has now also implemented sanctions, and Mr. Obama similarly draws his administration’s red line at preventing Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon.

When Mr. Stephanopoulos pointed out that Mr. Romney’s red line was the same as the president’s, Mr. Romney replied, “Yeah, and I laid out what I would do to keep Iran from reaching that red line.”

Meanwhile, however, two of Mr. Romney’s most senior foreign policy advisers, Eliot Cohen and Richard Williamson, were offering a far more muscular stance on Iran. Asked specifically how Mr. Romney’s foreign policy differs from that of the Obama administration, Mr. Romney’s advisers said that he would have already told Iran that he would not allow it to come close to building a bomb.